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It’s always a dogfight when East Ascension faces Dutchtown, and despite Tuesday night’s scoreline, the District 3-I matchup was no different.

The Spartans (30-10) pulled off their second sweep of the Griffins (22-14) this season with a hard-fought three-set victory (25-18, 25-19, 25-22), spoiling senior night for Dutchtown, which still has two more home games to go out on a high note.

“Dutchtown is a great team and they’re always a tough team to play,” said East Ascension coach Jamie Gilmore. “I think my kids just came out ready to play and they played really well tonight – all of them. Overall, we played really well.”

The Spartans were hitting on all facets of the game, posting an all-around solid performance that was anchored by strong play at the net, continuous defensive ups and consistent serving.

East Ascension came out of the gate firing and scored the first 10 points of the match, boosted by four aces from Spartan sophomore setter, Emily Venable.

“(Serving) is something we really work on,” Venable said. “We try to be an all-around good team. We played really well together as a team. I thought (Dutchtown) had some really good ups and they played well also.”

Following a timeout, Dutchtown answered the Spartans streak with an 11-2 run of its own to cut the lead to one point. Right on cue, East Ascension fired back with a 7-2 run to take a hold of the set before hanging on to a 25-18 win in the opening game.

The second set was competitive was the start with both teams going back and forth until East Ascension hit a 13-4 run it the middle of the game to take a six-point lead at 18-12.

Dutchtown eventually cut that deficit to two, but the damage had been done, and the Spartans held on for a 25-19 win to take a 2-0 lead.

“I thought both teams played really well, they just played better on the big points,” said Dutchtown coach Patrick Ricks. “Anytime we pulled close, they were smart with the ball and executed on their offense. They played great defense as well. We’ve just got to do a better job of winning those big points.”

The Griffins held an early lead in the thirdgame, jumping out to a 12-7 advantage and forcing East Ascension to call a timeout.

Whatever Gilmore said to her team must have worked. The Spartans came out of the break and scored the next eight points to regain the lead – one they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the match.

Dutchtown continued to keep it competitive, making East Ascension work for every point it earned. But in the end, the Spartans fended off the Griffins’ late push to maintain a 25-22 win to complete the sweep.

Senior Tori Vincik led the way for the Spartans with a game-high 10 kills and six blocks, dueling at the net with Dutchtown’s Casey Cannon, who compiled eight kills and three blocks of her own.

Four different Spartans recorded at least five kills in the match, thanks to 20 assists from Venable, who had one kill of her own in the contest.

“It’s really awesome because (the hitters) fight through everything,” Venable said. “One has a knee injury, the other has a shoulder injury, so I’m really, really proud of them for fighting through that.”